Monthly Archives: April 2013

Welcome ASK EDDY to the barn. ASK EDDY is a 6-year old gelding by VICTORY GALLOP out to the MATTY G mare STARLINE. Foaled in Kentucky, he was a graduate of the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale where the bidding stopped at $33,000.

ASK EDDY started his racing career at Arlington Park where he debuted against Maiden Special Weight company but it wasn’t until two starts later that his broke his maiden in a $25,000 Maiden Claiming race at Hawthorne. In his career he has had 35 starts with 7 wins, hitting the board just over 50% of the time and earning over $165,000. He has won races as high as allowance level and has changed hands via the claim box five times including yesterday when Clay claimed him. Last season he was stakes placed, finishing third in the Wheat City Stakes at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg. He likes to run on or near the lead which is something that is desirable when racing at Canterbury. Additionally, Clay felt that this is a horse that he can improve upon both physically and with some training, so we dropped a slip for $5,000 and ASK EDDY was Clay’s when the gates spring open.

As a member of our group, Clay claimed the horse in his name and there he will stay for 30-days until the horse is eligible to be sold to new owners, which will be the Canterbury Park Racing Club. To expand a little bit, only licensed owners can claim a horse and rules vary considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions do require that the horse remain in the claiming owners name for thirty days before it can be sold or transferred (other than via another claim). In this case, Clay is part of the group and we will join him in owning the horse as the group after the 30-day period.

Unfortunately, yesterday was not one of ASK EDDY’s best efforts. He tracked the leaders well but about six furlongs in; he started sliding back and was unable to keep pace. Clay looked him over this morning and said that “He’s got a bit of an ankle, but he cooled out well and walked well this morning.”

What the horse DOES need is some quality care. He is a bit lightweight and probably needs to be wormed and have his teeth floated. His coat was a bit ragged and he appears tired, so he’ll get a bit of time, care and proper nutrition. A couple of things Clay learned talking to the jock that rode him for both his old outfits was that when the horse is right, he can be pretty good and that during the race he felt just fine under him, no signs of discomfort at all. Cautious optimism are the watchwords.

So he’s going to get a little time off (about 30-days), get some weight back on him and get fit so Clay can have the opportunity to bring him back to a racing level where we feel he belongs – which we’re hoping is somewhat higher than the $5,000 that we bought him for!

As the Canterbury meet gets underway, we’ll be looking to be active in the claim box as well to get Eddy’s stablemate, probably at a fairly higher level than we picked up Eddy.

The final accounting has been done and we reached 178 members this season! A really nice increase over last season and that means our coffers have $44,500 from our members plus our licensed owner Curt Sampson’s $5,000, gives us $49,500 to start the season with.

I have already been in touch with Clay Brinson and we are actively looking for horses in the $7500 – $10,000 range. We will be looking for two to start and then perhaps even a third depending upon how things go. I like to have a nice reserve in the bank and make sure that several months of bills are in storage before we go forward to buy another horse.

One of the earliest – and most expensive – lessons that new owners learn is how expenses can mount up and how quickly reserves can be exhausted if you’re not careful. It’s important not to overextend. While this is a game supported by wagering and we do make a gamble when we claim a horse, finances are an area where gambling should be kept to a minimum.

So the next step is to get us a couple of swift runners that can carry us to the Mystic Lake Winners’ Circle. As I believe I mentioned in a past post, we like to claim in a range where there is some room to drop in class if we have to in order to keep the horse competitive. If you claim at the bottom, there is no room to drop if you realize that the speed isn’t there and then you have a problem. I also like to see some consistency – not a lot of long layoffs as well as a horse that is nearly always in the hunt. I like to agree with our trainer! If Clay doesn’t like a horse, for whatever the reason, I will nearly always defer. The horse is in his care, will be in his barn and he is the professional we entrust to train and evaluate the talent of our runners. If I could do THAT part of the business, I’d be a trainer – obviously I am not. And finally I’d like to see a recent 30-day break – or at least a horse that hasn’t been over-raced – which indicates to me that the horse won’t need freshening during our relatively short meet here at Canterbury.

This was a record breaking year for membership and each and every year the Club has been in existence it has grown. Here’s hoping we break some wins and earnings records as well!